Improvement in securing soft-metal packing to projectiles



2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. F. MANN.

Projetjle. l

" 'Pa tenteddan. "6, 1863.

witnesses:

llnirnn STATES I PATENT @FFHJE.

lIENRY F. MANN, OF LAPORTE, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN SECURING SOFT-METAL PACKING TO PROJECTILES.

Specification forming part of Lcttcrs Patent No. 37,352, dated January (5, 1863 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. llLiNN, of La porte, in the county of Laporte and State of Indiana, have invented a new and useful Improvement for Increasing the Efficiency of Lead Packing for Oblong and Spherical Shot and Shell; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of one style of shot with my invention applied to it. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 a transverse section, of the same in the line a m, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an elevation of another style of shot with my invention applied to it in a slightlydiflerent way from what Figs. 1., 2, and 3 show. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section in the line a 2, Fig. 6, and Fig. 6 a transverse section of the same in the line 3 1 Fig. 7 is an elevation of a shell with my invention applied to it, and Fig. 8 is a section of the same. Fig. 9 is an elevation of a spherical ball or shot, and Fig. 10 a section of the same, with my inven tion applied to it.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate analogous parts.

One of the greatest difficulties with the lead packing as heretofore employed in connection with projectiles, balls, and shells is the flying of the lead from its seat as the proj ectile leaves the muzzle of the gun. I11 many instances serious destruction of life has resulted from this action of the lead, and to obviate such separation of the lead from the projectile numerous methods of applying and fastening it have been devised; but, so far as I am advised, a perfect success has not as yet been realized.

As an improvement in the mode of applying lead packing with a view of insuring its connection with the projectile, ball, or shell during its entire flight through the air after it leaves the gun, Ihave cast the device to which the lead is to be applied with a groove or grooves around its circumference, and with longitudinal bars extending from one shoulder to another of the groove or grooves, and isolated from the base or bottom of the groove or grooves, so that the lead packing, when mold ed in the grooves upon the projectile, shall extend entirely around it, beneath the bars and also up between and above the bars, and thus be interwoven with or united to the projectile in such a very secure manner that the liability of a separation of it'therefrom, by reason of friction and centrifugal. force at or about the B 13 are the bars which are cast between the shoulders of the groovesO C. These bars are isolated from the bottom of the grooves, as shown, so that a space all round the projectile, as shown at a, is formed beneath them. They are also placed a small distance apart, so that a space, 1), between them shall exist, as shown. The base of the grooves may be scalloped, as shown at c, in order to conform to the bars and afford .more room for the lead. The forward bars, 13, are parallel with the surface of the projectile; but the rear bars, B,run slightly oblique and correspond in this respect to the bevel of the groove 0 and the bevel ofthe rear surface of the projectile. The object of having the bars oblique or to converge as they approach the rear of the projectile, and in connection therewith making the surface of the projectile on a taper or bevel, is to secure the advantage due to the upsetting of the lead packing when the projectile is acted upon in the gun by the exploded powder or gas thereof. It is well known now that the lead is caused to expand by the combined agency of the powder-gas and the bevel or taper seat of the projectile, and

therefore I do not set up any claim to this principle disconnected from the bars. I may in practice leave the rear end of the projectile with apertures leading to the part d of the lead, and thus have the gas act thereon the same as it does in the part (1. I may also set wrought or other metal rods in the mold and cast the projectile about them in such manner as to have the rods constitute the bars 13 B. I however prefer to cast the bars and body of projectile as one piece, The projectile, when cast as shown in Fig. 3, has the lead run into its grooves, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, except ing that the band, when completed, has no portion broken out, as in Fig. 6, this break being here shown for the purpose of illustrating the invention.

In Fi 4, 5, and 6 I have shown a project ile with two bands of lead confined in accordof the gun; but I prefer to use the respective ance with my invention. The projectile in this instance is cylindric at its rear, instead of taper, and all the bars run straight or parallel with the cylindric portion. The chamber E and passages e e are for lubricating material, and the plunger F, which is operated by the expanding powder-gas, forces the lubricating material out of the chamber and through the passagesc 6 upon the projectile.

If it is desired to use my invention on a projectile, shot, or shell'which enters at the muzzle of a gun, I form thebars at the rear of theprojectile, as shown in Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10, and run the lead around it, as represented. The grooves shown in the lead are formed by the riding in the gun, the same as in the use of all similar lead-banded projectiles. WVith this construction I obtain the advantages due to the upsetting of the lead by the powder-gas.

Either of the projectiles, shells, or balls shown'may be used in loading at the breech styles in the manner in which I have described them.

The spherical shot will answer a good purpose in both rifled and smooth bored guns.

lVhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is- 1 Providing around the circumference of shot, shell, or projectiles the bars B B, which are separated from one another and isolated from the bottom of the packing-groove, and which extend from shoulder to shoulder of said groove and pass entirely through the soft-metal packing, all in such manner that the soft-metal packing is held securely in place both longitudinally and in line with the circumference of the projectile, substantially as described.

H. F. MANN.

\Vitnesses:

R0131. WV. FENWICK, GUSTAVE DIETERICH. v 

